Packaging Market ( Cont’d from Page 1)
Director at Printfuture, one of the companies that conducted the survey. “However there is increasing confidence in a strong future for printers in most markets and regions, as long as they analyze their tar- get markets carefully and make suitable innovations to meet the future needs of their clients’ customers.” Regionally, the situation is positive in general but with exceptions. North America has consistently been the strongest region over time, although Europe has shown steadily increasing confidence while Africa and the Middle East see clear decline in confi- dence over time. Globally, this is the fourth year of increasing confi- dence reported by suppliers. Noticeable is the in- crease in sales of core equipment/software/materials (+29 percent net total). Overall, all supplier revenue streams showed their best ever net positive balance. Printers globally report that the pressure on prices and margins continues and is coped with best by ever increasing capacity utilization and hence rev- enues which hold costs as steady as possible.There is evidence that over time the squeeze on prices and margins is somewhat decreasing globally. However, regionally the situation is inconsistent. While North America reported some increase in prices, Aus- tralia/Oceania reported a clear drop in pricing. Pack- age printing prices are holding up globally while publishing and — to a lesser degree — commercial printing prices continue to decline. Digital Progression The transition to digital print continues but slowly, with only a few packaging printers currently report significant digital sales. Just 12 percent of packaging printers report that more than 25 percent of their turnover is digital. Globally, printers were more willing to invest: 42 per- cent reported an increase in capital expenditure com- pared to the previous year while 9 percent reported a decline — a positive net balance of 33 percent. North America performed best with a net balance increase of 51 percent, while Australia/Oceania lagged farthest behind with a net increase of only 18 percent. Not surprisingly, packaging printers reported the largest positive net balance at +45 percent, functional at +42 percent, commercial at +30 percent and publishing at +20 percent. Finishing is the most popular focus for investment for the second year in a row, followed by print technology and prepress/workflow/MIS. Plans for print investment in 2018 depend on the market sector, with flexo as the most popular choice in packaging, fol- lowed by sheetfed offset.
6 April 30, 2018 Flexo Market News
www.nvpublications.com
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online